“Was Narad Muni An Astrologer?” - An article written by Vishal Aksh

 

Before writing about it let me first clear it that Vedic rishi Narad was not only a muni or an expert of the subject but also a rishi or one who possesses all round knowledge. In Vedic literature he was also addressed as brahmrishi and devrishi. So no one should disrespect him calling an astrologer, soothsayer or deivagya. Astrologer is the word of modern language and the person with this title will be the resident of the earth. Muni Narad was the resident of Brahamloka or Satyaloka.

To spread the divine knowledge and bhakti Vedic muni Narad used to travel on earth and on the earth many people became his disciple and the flew of his such disciple are given below:

1. Adikavi and Vedic rishi bhagwan Valmiki.

2. Vedic rishi bhagwan Vedvyas.

3. Vedic king Dhruva.

4. Asura king and Haribhakta Prahalad.

Vedic rishi Narad gave Ramnaam mantra diksha to the greatest dociate Doshakara and with the effect of that the sinner dociate Doshakar became Valmiki who wrote Ramayana. Prabhu Rama and bhagwati Sita used to address rishi Valmiki as Bhagwan. It is said that rishi Valmiki wrote the Ramayana before the birth of shri Rama and he not only gave the horoscopes of shri Rama, Bharat, Lakshman & Shatrughna but also gave valuable information about cosmos in his immortal Ramayana.

Vedic rishi Vedvyas was also a disciple of rishi Narad who not only wrote Mahabharata and compiled Vedas, Upanishads, Darshana and Puranas. Vedvyas was the son of rishi Parashara. There are several Purana compiled by bhagwan Vedvyas in which valuable knowledge about jyotisha is written.

Vedic king Dhurva after getting the blessing of rishi Narad saw the parmatma Narayana and also got the Dhruloka in cosmos. The study of cosmos also comes under jyotisha.

So it is clear that rishi Valmiki, rishi Vedvyas and king Dhurva the disciples of rishi Narad were proficient in jyotish. If Narad did not possess the knowledge of jyotish then how could his given diksha be so effective to make his disciples proficient in jyotisha. It means that the muni Narad the guru of rishi Valmiki, rishi Vedvyas and king Dhruva was also proficient in jyotish.

Vedas have six limbs given below:

1. Jyotish is referred to as  the eyes of Vedas so without jyotish it is impossible to understand Vedas.

2. Vyakarana or Vedic grammar is referred to as  the face of Vedas.

3. Siksha is referred to as the nose of Vedas.

4. Nirukta is referred to as the ears of Vedas.

5. Kalpa is referred to as the hands of Vedas.

6. Chanda is referred to as the feet of Vedas.

In ancient times Vedic literature was taught in gurukula so everyone who learned in Vedic era knew jyotish. So if in Vedic era a common man knew jyotish then it is obvious that the enlightened souls of the status of rishi & muni were the exponents of jyotish so on that grounds it can be said that the Vedic muni Narad was also an exponent of jyotish.

Vedic muni Parashara the exponent of jyotish says that the originator of jyotish was Brahma and according to the Vedic literature Narad was the son of Brahma so it can be said that muni Narad inherited the knowledge of jyotish from his father Brahma so Narad must have specific knowledge of jyotish.

In Vedic literature it is mentioned that Sanakadi rishi, the sons of Brahma, were the siblings of muni Narad. Sankadi rishi are supposed to be four in numbers and their names are given below:

1. Sanak.

2. Sanatan.

3. Sanandan.

4. Sanat.

Vedic muni Narad got the knowledge of jyotish from rishi Sanandan.

Source: Dwitya paada of Poorvabhaga of Shri Narad Mahapuran.

It is almost clear from the Narada Purana that the Vedic muni Narad was also involved in jyotish. In Vedic literature eighteen parvartakas or the great originators of jyotish are mentioned which are given below:

1. Surya.

2. Pitamah or Brahma.

3. Vyasa or Vedvyas.

4. Vashisth.

5. Atri.

6. Parashara.

7. Kashyapa.

8. Narad.

9. Garg.

10. Marichi.

11. Manu.

12. Angira.

13. Loamash.

14. Polish.

15. Chavan.

16. Yavan.

17. Brigu.

18. Shaunak.

So Vedic muni Narad was one of the eighteen Jyotish parvartakas or the originators of jyotish, not merely an astrologer.

Written on Thursday, December 30, 2021 at 01:31 (IST) by

Vishal Aksh

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Copyright©2021 Vishal Aksh

“Reason Behind Considering Lagna A Kendra & A Trikona” - An article written by Vishal Aksh

The Sanskrit term jyotish includes both phalit or predictive portion as well as ganit or mathematical portion. In the modern era the predictive portion is known as astrology and the mathematical portion is astronomy.

In ganit jyotish the strength of planets from Sun to Saturn is calculated on the basis of shadbala which are sthanbala, digbala, kaalbala, neisergabala, chestabala and drigbala. The kendradi bala is a part of sthanabala so the planets planets occupying first, fourth, seventh and tenth houses get a numeric strength of sixty units and those occupying panaphara or second, fifth, eighth and eleventh houses get a numeric strength of thirty units and those occupying apoklima houses or third, sixth, ninth and twelfth houses get a numeric strength of fifteen units.

Source: Mansagari

This indicates that the first house or lagna is considered as one of the strongest kendra houses but nowhere in the ancient texts based on jyotish gave any reasoning behind considering it in one of the triangular houses among first, fifth & ninth houses. But one can understand it through the standard rashi chart format given below:

All the kendra houses including the first house or lagna exist in the center part of the chart.The Sanskrit word kendra means center. The blue dash lines emanating from the top middle of the format or lagna house or first house touch the fifth and ninth houses respectively and form a trikona or a triangle. This clearly indicates that without considering lagna as trikona house the fifth and ninth houses never be considered as trikona houses. This format indicates that the first house or lagna is the first vertex of the trikona or triangle shown in blue lines in the above format.

So it is clear that from a geometric point of view that first house or lagna is considered a kendra or quadrant house as well as a trikona or triangular house.

But unless it is not found valid from a predictive point of view this cannot become a dictum. A house or bhava is ruled by a planet known as bhavesh or lord of house so the nature of the lord of the first house is helpful to solve this consideration on a predictive basis.

The prosperity or wellbeing of a house occupied by the lord of the first house or the lord of a house in conjunction with or aspecting the lord of ascendant is almost certain.

Source: First half of shloka 9, chapter 15, Phaladeepika by Mantreswara.

So In Vedic jyotish lord of ascendant or lagnesh is considered to be an auspicious planet irrespective of its inherent nature. 

Now let us assume that the lagna is a kendra not a trikona or a triangular house. Then the following various results occur for various lagna:

1. Mars as the lord of Aries ascendant becomes malefic as it also becomes the eighth lord.

2. Venus as the lord of Taurus ascendant becomes malefic as it also owns the sixth house.

3. Mercury as the lord of Gemini ascendant becomes malefic as being fourth lord also it will suffer on account of kendradhipatyam dosha.

4. Moon being natural benefic becomes malefic for Cancer ascendant as the natural benefics owning kendra become malefic.

5. Sun being the lord of Leo ascendant remains beneficial for Leo ascendant as natural malefics become auspicious whenever they own kendra.

6. Mercury the lord of Virgo ascendant becomes malefic on account of suffering from kendradhipatyam dosha.

7. Venus the lord of Libra ascendant becomes malefic as it also owns the eighth house.

8. Mars the lord of Scorpio ascendant becomes malefic by owning the sixth house also.

9. Jupiter the lord of Sagittarius ascendant becomes malefic on account of suffering from kandradhipatyam disha.

10. Saturn the lord of Capricorn ascendant becomes malefic because it also owns the death inflecting second house.

11. Saturn the lord of Aquarius ascendant also becomes malefic by owning the twelfth house.

12. Jupiter the lord of Pisces ascendant also becomes malefic on account of suffering from kendradhipatyam dosha.

The aforesaid results indicate that only Sun becomes auspicious for Leo ascendant and rest of all planets become malefic as lord of ascendants. So our assumption to consider the lagna as kendra only becomes totally wrong. There must be a solid reasoning favoring lagna lord to become benefic.

To judge extremely benefic or yogyakarta or rajyogakarka planet Vedic muni Parashar gives a simple but effective rule which in the form of a Sanskrit shloka is given below:

Lakshmisthanam trikonam ch Vishunsthanam ch Kendrakam

Tayo sambandhmatren rajyogadikam bhavet

 

Source: Shloka 37, Poorvakhand, Chapter: 24, Brihit Parashara Hora Shaastra.

The meaning of the aforesaid Sanskrit shloka is that trikona is the place of Lakshmi and kendra is Vishnu’s place so the relationship between these two houses constitute rajyoga. 

To understand this concept more precisely the following example are being given below:

1. For Taurus ascendant ninth or a trikona and tenth or a kendra lord Saturn becomes extremely benefic or rajyogakarka.

2. For Cancer ascendant fifth or trikona lord and tenth or kendra lord Mars becomes rajyogakarka or extremely benefic.

3. For Leo ascendant fourth or kendra lord and ninth or trikona lord Mars becomes rajyogyakarka or extremely benefic.

4. For Libra ascendant fourth or kendra lord and fifth or trikona lord Saturn becomes rajyogakarka or extremely benefic.

5. For Capricorn ascendant fifth or trikona lord and tenth or kendra lord Venus becomes rajyogakarka or extremely benefic planet.

6. For Aquarius ascendant fourth or kendra lord and ninth or trikona lord Venus becomes rajyogakarka or extremely benefic planet. 

So it is clear that out of twelve ascendants the six ascendants have their rajyogakarka planets or extremely benefic planets.

Now let us assume that the first house is a kendra as well as a trikona then being kendra & trikona lord Mars becomes yogakarka or benefic planet for Aries & Scorpio ascendants by being the lord of Aries & Scorpio ascendants, Venus becomes yogakarka for Taurus and Libra ascendants by being their lord, Mercury becomes rajyogakarka or extremely benefic for Gemini and Virgo ascendants by being their lord, Moon becomes yogakarka or benefic for Cancer ascendant by being its lord, Sun becomes rajyogakarka as being the ruler of Leo, Jupiter becomes rajyogakarka for Sagittarius and Pisces ascendants by being their lord and Saturn the owner of Capricorn and Aquarius becomes yogakarka or a benefic planet by being their lord.

So it is clear that by considering the first house as a kendra & trikona the lord of every ascendant becomes yogakarka or benefic which is in agreement with the rule of the classical theory of Vedic jyotish written earlier. So our assumption to consider the first house a kendra and trikona becomes valid.

Written on Thursday, December 23, 2021 at 23:52 (IST) by

Vishal Aksh

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Copyright©2021 Vishal Aksh

“My Experiences With Various dasha” - An article written by Vishal Aksh

 For the timing of events stored in a Vedic horoscope various dasha are used. In Brihit Parashara Hora Shaastra about forty dasha has been dealt with and on the basis of planets, rashi & nakshatra these dasha can be  divided into three major groups given below:

1. Grah dasha.

2. Rashi dasha

3. Nakshatra dasha

Grah dasha are the planetary periods of equal or unequal durations. Vedic muni Parashara mentioned the following as Grah dasha:

1. Kaal hora dasha

2. Anshayurdaya dasha

3. Pindayurdaya dasha

4. Ashtakvargayurdaya dasha

In my experience the kaal hora dasha is found valid in predicting major events stored in natal charts and horary charts. This dasha in natal horoscope gives wonderful results if found in agreement with Vedic annual horoscope.

Anshayurdaya dasha, pindayurdaya dasha and ashtakavargayurdaya dasha were not found valid for predictive purposes in a large number of cases in my experiences. 

The dasha given below are also grah dasha:

1. Sandhya dasha.

2. Grahanusarbhava dasha.

3. Nesargic dasha.

4. Mool dasha

5. Patyanshi dasha

Important notes to follow:

• Sandhya dasha is given in Maansagri and as a grah dasha it is not given in muni Parashara’s works.

• Grahanusarbhava dasha is given in the works of Dr. Narayan Dutt Shrimali. This dasha may have a minimum of fifteen years as the total duration and a maximum of one hundred and two years. This is a very effective dasha.

• Nesergic dasha and Mool dasha are mentioned in Horasara and both of them are also effective dasha for predictive purposes.

• Patyanshi dasha is another grah dasha of total duration of 365.256363 days which is used in Varshphala charts. There are dasha of seven planets and the ascendant excluding Rahu & Ketu in this dasha system. This is a good dasha for predictive purposes in a varshphala chart. 

All the aforesaid grah dasha work well for all the predictive purposes in the following charts:

1. Natal charts

2. Dasha pravesh charts

3. Horary charts

4. Progressed charts

5. Annual charts

Important notes to follow:

• If the dasha lord forms a good or bad combination in a progressed chart or annual chart that combination will bound to give results.

• The sandhya dasha for each planet is twelve years and the total number of years in a sandhya dasha is one hundred and eight years. It is not given in any software.

• The total duration of grahanusarbhava dasha varies from fifteen years to one hundred and two years.

• Patyanshi dasha never works on dasha pravesh charts.

Vedic muni Parashara mentioned a number of rashi dasha in Brihit Parashara Hora Shaastra these dasha are only of rashi or signs only. some of them are as follows:

1. Charaprayay dasha.

2. Mandook dasha.

3. Shoola dasha.

4. Drig dasha.

5. Varnad dasha.

6. Yogardh dasha.

7. Trikon dasha.

8. Niryana shoola dasha.

9. Sthir dasha.

10. Navansh dasha.

11. Sudarshan chakra dasha.

Vedic muni Parashara praised charaprayay dasha a lot and gave valuable rules to predict concerning it. I found that all the aforesaid rashi dasha except sudarshan chakra dasha are not working satisfactory but there are several experts who favor all the rashi dasha.

It is only sudarshana chakra dasha which in my experience found valid for all predictive purposes. The total number of years in a complete cycle is one hundred and twenty years and every rashi is allotted ten years in its dasha. Basically it is the bhava or house dasha but for prediction the rashi existing in  bhava are considered so I placed this under rashi dasha The following are the advantages of this dasha over other rashi dasha according to my experiences:

1. It is easy to calculate and with slight practices it can be calculated mentally.

2. It is possible to time an event for the horoscopes containing only rashi charts.

3. This dasha relates rashi chakra with varga charts.

4. This dasha gives the results of planets placed in it in exaltation, debilitation or own sign in rashi as well as in varga charts.

5. This dasha also gives the results of cancellation of debilitation and vipreet rajyoga of planets occupying it in rashi charts or varga charts.

6. This dasha gives the results of the influence of transitory planets on it.

7. This dasha starts simultaneously from lagna, Chandra lagna and Surya lagna so three are several options for an astrologer to predict.

8. Vedic muni Parashara also termed this dasha as sandhya dasha when it is calculated through lagna only so you can say it is sandhya rashi dasha and earlier described sandhya dasha is sandhya grah dasha.

Nakshatra dasha are calculated by taking into consideration the sidereal longitude of Moon but I found that a nakshatra dasha calculated from the sidereal longitude of the ascendant works well in the timing of events or in other words the nakshatra dasha calculated from the longitude of ascendant is as effective as it is calculated from the longitude of sidereal Moon.  

Vedic muni Parashara described several types of nakshatra dasha and in this context few of them are mentioned below:

1. Vinshotri dasha is the most effective dasha of one hundred twenty years. All events likely to occur in one’s life can be effectively predicted on the basis of this dasha and it is also found valid in my experience of more than three decades in the field of Vedic jyotish. This dasha can be effectively applied to natal, horary and mundane charts so this is one of the universal dasha. This is an amazing and unique dasha.

2. Ashtottri dasha, a conditional dasha of one hundred and eight years, is supposed to be applied if and only if Rahu is in kendra or trikona from lord of ascendant by not occupying the ascendant but I found it as effective as a universal dasha. This nakshatra dasha is of two types. The first type of dasha is Shivadhya or Ardradi and the second type is Kritihadit or Kritikadi. In my experience the Ardradi ashtottri dasha was found valid. This dasha system is found very much effective to time the events of all the spheres of one’s life stored in navansh chart in my experiences. 

3. Shodashottri dasha is also a conditional dasha of one hundred and sixteen years. It is applied only when either in shukla paksha the ascendant falls in solar hora or in krishna paksha ascendant falls in lunar hora. This dasha works well as a conditional dasha but I have found it working well as in case the dasha lord is occupied by at least one planet, upagrah or saham also.

4. Dwadashottri dasha is also a conditional dasha of one hundred and twelve years so it is applied when ascendant falls in the navansh of one of the signs ruled by Venus. Venus dasha never occurs in this dasha system but I have found it working well as in case the dasha lord is occupied by at least one planet, upagrah or saham also.

5. Panchottri dasha is also conditional dasha of one hundred and five years so it is applied when Jupiter occupies sidereal cancer and the dwadashansh of cancer so it is almost a rare condition as it can only applied to those who born when Jupiter occupies Cancer 00° 00’ 01'' to Cancer 02° 30’ 00”  but there are several so called expert who wrongly say that this dasha is applied only if the cancer is the rising sign which falls in the dwadashansh of Cancer. This dasha does not have the dasha of Rahu and Ketu but I have found it working well as in case the dasha lord is occupied by at least one planet, upagrah or saham also.

6. Chatursheetika dasha, a conditional dasha of eighty four years, is applicable only if the tenth lord is in the tenth house. In this dasha system every planet except Rahu and Ketu contribute twelve years each but I have found it working well as in case the dasha lord is occupied by at least one planet, upagrah or saham also. I have found that this dasha works well to predict every event of one’s life from a saptansh chart symbolized nowadays as D7.

7. Dwisaptika dasha a conditional dasha of seventy two years is applicable only if either lord of ascendant is in seventh house or vice versa. This dasha system never allows the Ketu’s dasha so every planet from Sun to Rahu contributes nine years each. I have found that this dasha works well to predict every event of one’s life from a shasthansh chart symbolized nowadays as D6.

8. Shasthhayeeni dasha, a conditional dasha of sixty years, is applicable if the lagna and Chandra lagna are ruled by the same planet but there are several experts who recommend this dasha only when the Moon occupies the ascendant and there are also few who recommend the application of this dasha system only if Sun occupies the ascendant. I have found that this dasha works well to predict every event of one’s life from a cyclic panchmansh chart symbolized nowadays as D5.

9. Yogini dasha, a universal dasha of thirty six years, is a wonderful system to predict all the events. This dasha is found valid in predicting all the good and bad yogas. I have found that a fresh horoscope is required after the completion of thirty six years to use this dasha for the next thirty six years.

10. Kaal chakra dasha, a versatile nakshatra dasha of rashi, is only dasha under nakshatra dasha which is of rashi. This is a universal dasha and also gives amazing results when applied to horary horoscopes too. The deha rashi and jeev rashi are the unique features of this dasha system. It is a very complex dasha so well versed and well experienced astrologers are able to predict on the basis of this dasha. The various gatis appearing in this dasha system when examined properly indicate the time of pragati or progress, durgati or misery or sadgati or death. Here I would like to say that death is the only mystery so it cannot be predicted. One minute change in one’s time shifts this dasha to several months forward or backward so the birth time should be very much accurate so an astrologer who knows the rectification of birth time can be able to predict on the basis of this dasha. I use this dasha to rectify one’s birth time astrologically.    

Important notes to follow:

1.  In 1995 I started judging the horoscopes by taking into consideration various dasha and also used both the universal and conditional dasha to every horoscope and what I found then was amazing Ashttotri dasha was found to be applicable to every horoscope though it was described as conditional dasha in Brihit Parashara Hora Shaastra. In the similar way shodashootri, dwadashottri & dwisaptika dasha were also found applicable to several cases without any condition of their application.

2. At that time I became totally confused about the stability of the conditional dasha. But I found that those conditional dasha worked as a support to Vinshottri dasha. I gave many successful predictions by considering these Conditional dasha as Universal dasha.

3. At that time I felt some relief but I did not digest the change in behavior of these conditional dasha but I did not think soon I was going to be in the web of confusions and that very moment was coming nearer and nearer.

4. In 1996 I read in Maansagri, a famous text on Vedic astrology, that ashtottari dasha should be applied to the horoscopes of person born in bright half and vinshottri dasha should be applied to the horoscopes of person born in dark half. So Maansagri made Vinshottri dasha as conditional dasha and it was a nightmare for me. How could a Universal dasha like Vinshottri be a conditional dasha? and in another famous text on Vedic jyotish i.e. Phaladeepika I read that kaal chakra dasha should be applied to the horoscopes of a person having lord of  navansh occupied by the Moon is powerful. I felt at that time as if someone slapped me. Phaladeepika made the universal kaal chakra dasha as conditional dasha and Maansagri did the same with vinshottri dasha whereas in my experience this kaal chakra dasha and vinshottri dasha worked well in horary horoscopes too in addition to natal horoscopes.

5. In 2005 & 2006 I realized that most of the conditional dasha working independently and giving results in most of the cases and then I was able to  known the use use of these conditional dasha as universal dasha as in several cases these dasha gave results not indicated by Vinshottri dasha at first glance. This is well explained in foraging paragraphs written earlier.

6. I then found that if a conditional dasha is applied to a horoscope then it is bound to give results in a general manner but if any conditional dasha not applicable to any horoscope is found to become powerful at a point of time then it is bound to give results irrespective of its conditional applicability and the proper condition for this has been discussed in foregoing paragraphs.

7. The earlier discussed patyanshi dasha having a total duration of 365.256363 days when expanded to 120 years, 116 years, 112 years, 108 years, 105 years, 100 years, 84 years, 72 years, 60 years and 36 years found valid in my experiences to cross check the events indicated by vinshottri dasha, shodashottri dasha, dwadashottri dasha, ashtottri dasha, panchottri dasha, shatabdika dasha, chatursheeti dasha, dwisaptika dasha, shasthhayeeni dasha and Yogini dasha      

Written on Thursday, December 16,2021 at 15:27 (IST) by

Vishal Aksh

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Copyright ©2021 Vishal Aksh